Tag: Hayabusa

GCW notes on Marko Stunt, Hayabusa

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Marko Stunt is saying goodbye to pro wrestling.

It was announced on Sunday that the former AEW wrestler would be saying goodbye at GCW’s event on March 14 at the Showboat in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 

Stunt started wrestling in 2015 and by 2019, had joined AEW. He is best known for his run with Jack Perry and Luchasaurus as a member of Jurassic Express. He was released in 2022 but returned briefly two years later in a losing effort against Jack Perry, who had issued an open challenge for the TNT Championship on an episode of Collision. He retired from pro wrestling later that year, but returned a few months ago as an on-screen talent and mentor for Memphis Wrestling.

It was also announced that Hayabusa would be appearing at Joey Janela’s Spring Break X on April 17. This will be the second incarnation of the persona who has been wrestling in Pro Wrestling Zero1 for the last year.

Earlier in the weekend, it was revealed that The Sandman would be having his final match at Joey Janela’s Spring Break.

Pacific Rim: Fumi Saito remembers his friend Sabu

Posted on by Jim Valley

On a new Pacific Rim with Jim Valley, he and co-host Fumi Saito remembers Sabu, his friend of over 30 years.

Fumi fills in a lot of Sabu’s history going back to his uncle — the “Original” Sheik Ed Farhat — Sabu’s training and upbringing in the business, his real age (not the one widely reported), his three wrestling influences on which he based his in-ring style, an act of kindness Hana Kimura’s mother never forgot, and much more.

Enjoy stories and a side of Sabu you won’t hear anywhere else.

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

Hayabusa’s brother says family felt ‘proud’ of Will Ospreay’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door tribute

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Hayabusa’s brother wrote a letter saying he was ‘very proud’ of the AEW Forbidden Door tribute.

AEW Japan on social media shared a letter from Takanori Ezaki that was written prior to Sunday’s joint show between NJPW and AEW.

It reads:

Hello,

This is Takanori Ezaki, a younger brother of Hayabusa. 

I heard that Will Osprey would like to use Hayabusa’s costume and entrance theme for Forbidden Door.  We, the family of Hayabusa, felt very proud.

It’s been more than 20 years since he was injured in 2001.  Many people still sent him their respects over seas.  We greatly appreciate it.

I wish the AEW wrestlers safety.  Please keep showing us good fights, and be careful not to get injured.  I also wish that both Forbidden Door and AEW will be successful.

Takanori Ezaki

Ospreay wore a costume similar to Hayabusa’s in the main event of Forbidden Door, ultimately losing to Swerve Strickland in a match for the AEW World Championship. On social media, he said that Hayabusa’s daughter had given him her blessing to use the mask and oufit.

Hayabusa’s daughter thanked Ospreay on X for the tribute.

One of the premier high flyers of the 1990s, Hayabusa was paralyzed from the waist down after breaking his neck in 2001 during a match. He was mostly confined to a wheelchair until his death in 2016.

FMW star Hayabusa dead at 47

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Eiji Ezaki, best known as Hayabusa, passed away on Thursday from bleeding on the brain. He was just 47.

Ezaki started as the masked Hayabusa in Mexico in 1993 and came back to Japan in 1994 as the FMW representative in the Super J Cup. Hayabusa was the best flying wrestler in the promotion, an innovator in his era, and grew to be the top star in the promotion after the retirement of Atsushi Onita. He also used the name H.

He had remained the top star in FMW until he suffered a career ending broken neck when he slipped on the ropes doing a quebrada (the same move Chris Jericho uses as the lionsault) in a 2001 match with Mammoth Sasaki at Korakuen Hall. The injury left him paralyzed.  After wrestling he attempted to make it as a singer while working in a wheelchair.

He was eventually able to walk and last year in a public appearance in front of many of the biggest stars in wrestling like Genichiro Tenryu, Kenta Kobashi and Keiji Muto, he got out of his wheelchair and was able to, with the aid of a cane, walk to the ring.